Originally posted by: Ultra Quiet
Originally posted by: burnedout
Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
This is what drives people out of the service, promise rotation, extension, renege, and repeat.
Dosen't take long before you have lost troops through appathy.
Yes sir, I agree. If the tempo stays the same, they are gonna have some serious retention problems.
You'll notice there was no criticism of anyone in uniform and that they were all enlisted soldiers. If I recall correctly enlisted soldiers are not forbidden from being critical of their civilian leadership whereas officers are. There is also a difference between what is said in an NCO mtg. and speaking to a reporter. Frankly I'm surprised the press is given this kind of access. In my experience it is more "controlled".
LOL, if a commissioned officer mouthed off negatively to the press, I doubt his next evaluation report would be favorable. Yeah, I think enlisted have more "free speech" regarding various issues. The tolerance among the brass concerning such matters was increasing when I retired.
Also noted more "liberal" reporting regarding the attitudes in the ranks as of late. Reminds me of some media reports from the Vietnam era.
WRT deployments and OPTEMPO. Normally I have very little sympathy for people who whine about deployments but going to a war zone is altogether different. Drawdowns, no change in OPTEMPO and a good economy is what gave us the problems we had in the 90's. We need to be very careful here. Retention has been at all time highs since 2000 but that can quickly change with an improving economy. Especially among those who aren't used to constantly deploying.
After the last episode of Gulf War 1, I read that the average deployment time there was around 6.5 months for Army personnel, which seems about right. There were of course exceptions regarding longevity in theater. However, at the time, we were also just beginning a drawdown from a Cold War force and thus had about 40 percent more bodies without a "babysitting-the-bear" mission, so to speak.
If I'm not mistaken, some units currently in theater are now up to 11 months time away from home station. Based on my experience, there will be some problems when they return, which is typical. If the unit leadership is solid, then problems shouldn't be quite as bad. Still though, I estimate that a greater-than-normal amount of junior enlisted folks, especially those with families, will be saying enough is enough when it comes time for re-up.
And yes, if the economy improves, the services will probably experience a more difficult recruiting/retention environment.